On Adobe, Flash CS5 and iPhone Applications | Hacker News Reader

On Adobe, Flash CS5 and iPhone Applications

mikechambers.com

15 pointssuperduper7 comments

"I think that the closed system that Apple is trying to create is bad for the industry, developers, and ultimately consumers, and that is not something that I want to actively promote," Chambers said. "We are at the beginning of a significant change in the industry, and I believe that ultimately open platforms will win out over the type of closed, locked-down platform that Apple is trying to create."

Apple's response:

"Someone has it backwards--it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe's Flash is closed and proprietary," said spokeswoman Trudy Miller in a statement.

(http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20003006-264.html)

To be fair, the Apple response doesn't address Chambers' appraisal of the App Store, but the fact is that iPhone still supports open development via the web.

Yeah, but comparatively, Apple is still less open. Android supports all those things, and development with any toolchain you like. So long as it's a runnable APK, you can install it.

I don't see the developer lock-in on the iPhone being much different from designer/developer lockin with the entire CS suite.

This just sounds like a poor sport who wasn't invited to the same type of party they are already throwing.

How's that? I use Paint.NET when I'm on the road to edit .psd files and it works fine. Actionscript can be written in a text editor if you so desire. Dreamweaver's html and I couldn't even list how many third part pdf editors are out there. So how are designer/developers locked into the entire CS suite?

Many of the features in the .psd format are undocumented and proprietary, and some are not backwards compatible. Up until CS5, the .fla format was proprietary (it is now zipped XML, and I understand that there are undocumented features there too).

Ever try sharing an indesign file between different versions? You can't, even if they are one version off. Sure you can export XML, but again, it often doesn't retain the same layout.

Fireworks adds proprietary information to the PNG format, so you can't open those files in other editors without losing data.

Key point:

We will still be shipping the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5. However, we are not currently planning any additional investments in that feature.

For reference, Mike Chambers is the principal product manager for the Adobe Flash platform. You can read this as Adobe's officialish reaction on this whole debate.

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